If he died whilst in the care of the authorities, I would venture to suggest he is most probably in a common grave without a headstone

Generally, I would agree - but in this case he had a supportive and quite affluent family (two of his brothers were very successful consulting mining engineers) so I am hopeful that his family may have provided a gravestone.

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His death made the national press, the Western Daily Express Bristol reported it on the 9th September

Well, if you kill a well-known chess player, you must expect a certain amount of notoriety!

I have about 20 pages of research on Joseph James - his life, his family, his trial and sentencing at Lewes Assizes and his life in Broadmoor. One day I'll get round to writing it up. Sadly, Joseph had at least six relatives (including his mother) who died in asylums.

I've now e-mailed the link Jebber gave and am hoping for a reply about a grave.

Glad the link paid off Philip, I have had similar success myself in the past by contacting a local authority, it was just a matter of a Google search to find the appropriate contact details for the town you are interested in.

Does any kind Rootschatter with a camera live near Reading and would be willing to see if there is a gravestone?

(OK, I'm pushing my luck here!)

Philip

(ps - the thumping and creaking sound you can hear is me - a happy bunny hopping arthritically around the room)

Philip,

You may get lucky with someone being able to find the plot and even a gravestone, but from bitter experience; The old Reading cemetery is in a pretty poor state. My wife and I spent many hours trying to find a couple of plots with absolutely no luck, let alone finding gravestones. The cemetery has suffered many years of neglect and vandalism. Some gravestones were removed by the council and placed around the edges of the site as they were deemed dangerous

Philip,You may get lucky with someone being able to find the plot and even a gravestone, but from bitter experience; The old Reading cemetery is in a pretty poor state. My wife and I spent many hours trying to find a couple of plots with absolutely no luck, let alone finding gravestones. The cemetery has suffered many years of neglect and vandalism. Some gravestones were removed by the council and placed around the edges of the site as they were deemed dangerous

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